Tuxedo Tubridy puts stamp on show after a shaky start

There was only one person being talked about in Kerry more than Páidí O Sé and that was new host of the Rose of Tralee, Ryan Tubridy.

To the broadcaster's relief, he is unlikely to come in for anything like the criticism being heaped on Ó Sé in the Kingdom. Despite some initial nervousness, and an occasional stiffness in his body language, the 30-year-old stepped up to the challenge of following Gay Byrne and Marty Whelan, and made the show his own.

Last night, he managed to grab the often derided contest by the scruff of the neck and drag it into, if not the 21st century then the 1990s at least.

From the moment the first 2003 contestant, Petula Martyn from Limerick, walked onstage in the Dome, impressing Tubridy with her Elvis impersonation, it was clear the programme had moved into a new era.

While Tubridy impressed the audience in the Dome, some television viewers found his physical interaction with the contestants awkward and uncomfortable. However, the sets were slicker, the interviews snappier and generally the whole production was given a new credibility in Tubridy's hands.

Some things hadn't changed but then it wouldn't be the Rose of Tralee without girls hitching up their skirts to do a bit of Irish dancing. Boston Rose Grainne Lanigan's dance with one of the escorts provided one of the highlights in a night when the format had been tinkered with but not dramatically changed.

Speaking before the televised selection, Tubridy said he had problems finding a tuxedo to fit him for the biggest night of his career. "I find it difficult to get suits because I am so skinny," he said, adding that a tailor had to fly in clothes for him.

The only fly in the ointment is that this radical overhaul has removed some of the key reasons why more critical viewers loved to hate the Rose of Tralee. Hiding behind the sofa in embarrassment was just not necessary while watching the contest last night, except maybe during the patchy self-penned poem recited by one American Rose.